Friday, November 16th: Locus Iste
I was pleased with my conducting this week because I think I was able to improve on things that needed work from previous weeks. I did not ask Dr. Mehaffey or my classmates but I think my conducting was a little more clear than last week. I think I was able to show the ensemble where to place the consonants a little more clearly. I am just afraid that by showing these articulations, I will disrupt the vocal line/legato. I felt a strong connection with the singers this week which was nice. I was able to get out of my score a little bit more which makes all the difference. Finally, I think my body was more connected this week; I felt more relaxed.
As Dr. Mehaffey pointed out, I need to step out of my comfort zone and really show the different dynamics. I agree that my piano looked almost the same as forte and there was no indication that at one point I wanted to conduct fortissimo. Sometimes I feel my gestures are already big but I just need to experiment a little more. I am very comfortable with legato and soft music so now it is time to get some things in gear! I need to get more comfortable with more robust music. Also, conducting 5 singers on Bruckner is pretty much impossible so I think this week went pretty well all things considered.